Review Sections

If money were no object, I'd have Lifx Color 1000 BR30 LEDs all throughout my home. They're bright, they're efficient, and they offer better-looking colors than Philips Hue, plus comparable smarts thanks to integrations with the Nest Learning Thermostat, with IFTTT, and with Amazon's Alexa.

But money is an object, and these LEDs aren't cheap -- 50 bucks each, to be exact, or about £40/AU$65. It's a lot of money for a light bulb no matter what currency you're using, and that stops me from recommending them outright (or, you know, filling my house with them). Plus, they don't work with Apple HomeKit, which might be a deal breaker for the iOS faithful.

Still, these are very good smart bulbs, and a justifiable splurge for owners of the Amazon Echo smart speaker thanks to those Alexa controls. You don't need these color-changing smart bulbs, but it's perfectly fine to want them, and fine to buy them, too, if you're looking for a little more color in your day to day.

As LED floodlights go, the Lifx Color 1000 is flat-out great. With nearly 1,000 lumens at its brightest setting it's a legitimate upgrade in light output over the kinds of common 65W incandescents you might use it to replace. Bulbs like those typically put out less than 700 lumens.

It's efficient, too, drawing just 11 watts (oddly even less than the white-light version of this bulb, which doesn't do colors and isn't quite as bright). With an 11W power draw, it'll save you about six or seven dollars per year in energy costs over that 65W bulb, all while putting out significantly more light.

Lifx bulbs are also terrific when it comes to color accuracy, and capable of producing rich, vivid tones at just about every shade. They're certainly better color-changers than Philips Hue, which struggles to put out true tones of green and cyan due to weak blue diodes.

The "Turn on lights" IFTTT actions for Philips Hue and Lifx LEDs: the Lifx controls go a lot deeper.

Screenshots by Ry Crist/CNET

The smarts are on point, as well. The integration with Amazon's Alexa is particularly strong (I know because I own a couple of Lifx bulbs along with an Amazon Echo smart speaker, and use Alexa to control my lights each and every day). Sync your Lifx account with the virtual assistant in Amazon's Alexa app, and you'll be able to ask her to turn things on and off or turn them up and dim them down.